Will present photos and narrative describing railfan photo trips as well as general travel photos

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Colombia Gorge - 3

Hi, We began Tuesday, 7/18 with an early morning return to Lyle. This time we got lucky, sort of. Near 7:00 AM a merchandise train went east in great light. Unfortunately the paint job on the leading warbonnet left something to be desired.

Then, about a 1/2 later a merchandise train trailing a single DPU went west.

Next, UP sent a train west while grain barges moved up river.

Things dried up then but Stan remembered we had seen the local head west so we went to look for it. We found it arriving eastbound at Bingen, WA about 10:30 AM. It had already worked the mill at Home Valley.

It quickly got off the main and began to work the mill at Bingen, WA.

After lunch we headed to Underwood, WA, west of Bingen. While we waited we watched people sail boarding and para sailing on the river. It was quite windy most of the time we were in the gorge, especially west of the Dalles. That's Mt. Hood in the background.

Finally, at 2:45 PM we got our first train of the afternoon, a west bound.

We chased it to Drano Lake,

into the clouds at HomeValley, and

to North Bonneville where we shot this eastbound

before the westbound passed.

Then it was back to a tunnel west of Hood, WA.

Next we moved on west to another tunnel along Route 14 where we just caught this westbound and then

an eastbound.

Heading back east we got an eastbound at Underwood, and then

another westbound.

Fortunately, there were many some eagles and an abundance of Osprey to photograph when there were no trains. Here an Osprey passed over head.

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About Me

I am 77 years old. I took my first railroad photos in the mid 50's although active photography really took hold in 1971 when I moved to the Washington, DC area.
I enjoy photographing almost any kind of rail activity and have done so throughout the United States. In addition, I have photographed extensively in a number of Canadian Provinces and have had the opportunity to shoot some in foreign countries.
I am married with 2 grown daughters and 4 grandsons. Professionally, I worked for the United States Bureau of Mines until the organization was shut down in 1996. In my last assignment I managed the Bureau's Minerals and Materials Science Research Program.
My wife and I enjoy traveling. We have had a number of really great trips to South America, Europe and Australia/New Zealand, Egypt and Jordan, and Africa. Photos from these trip will be included. You can reach me at robert.kaplan1@gmail.com